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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Wifi Add-on ?
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| Alastair Senior Member  Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
My solar HW & rain tank logger has now been working well for several weeks. I am using E-28 units on a couple of spots to collect the data and they upload it to a central MM+ system using Hc-12 links. The data is stored to an SD card, one file per day. It is tedious to have to remove the SD card and copy the data to my PC so I can look at it and put it into a spreadsheet. I am thinking of two ways to side step this. 1. Use a serial link to the PC to transfer the files. 2. Have the data accessible via my wifi network. I have never created a wifi node and wondering what is the best way to do it with a MM+. There seem to be lots of shields but mostly for Arduino. Does having such a node create a weak point in my network? I do not want to turn this into a major project - I have too many on the go already. Is there an easy way to do it? Cheers, Alastair |
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| MikeO Senior Member Joined: 11/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 275 |
ALastair I have been using wifi from my weather and irrigation for a couple of years and have quite a stable platform now, having said that its just in the middle of a "refit" as I am working on a Pi-cromite Web Server addition. I use a ESP8266 (in ESPbasic) and an interface Library for Micromite, the rest is the specific application software. Some ref are here and here but its rather out of date now but a flavor anyway. Most recently it has been incorporated also into another forum members system for lap timing off road cars (Khanacross) with results communicated via WiFi to the Results computer running a Java App and also to Android Phone. I won't elaborate as I was only responsible for the comms and Java apps side of this project. Data transfer has used the UDP protocol so far but I am developing a HTTP GET transfer at the moment to use with the Pi-Cromite Web Server. Possibly the quickest way to get you data to a PC would be to use the Java app as it could be very easily changed to turn it into a generic logger. Files are currently stored in files/folders by event and date.  Cheers Mike Codenquilts |
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disco4now Guru  Joined: 18/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1044 |
Hi Alistair, One more vote for the ESPBasic and wifi route. I have a tank monitor with HC12 to central MM, but keeping the data really never materialised until I got/modified @Mikeo ESPbasic code and send it up Things Speak each night. Things Speak is free for low volumes and keeps all the data for you.There is an app for iphone which shows it whenever you want to see it. I have power at the tank so the actual monitor is currently sending straight to Things Speak and also to the HC12 for when I have the central thing up if I am not playing with it. The IPhone Things Speak app shows it like this. App was $1.49 for Iphone but seems to be many more choices for Android.  Regards Gerry F4 H7FotSF4xGT |
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CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171 |
Hi Alistair. I have used ESP8266 with the stock Wifi-Serial code loaded and then using MMBasic to parse the inbound requests and responsd to HTTP GET meessages and talk back - effectively using a Micromite as a web server with the ESP8266 covering the wifi link. It is incorporated as part of a SMS (Text) Gateway it is also multi-session (upto 5 concurrent requests) it would be an easy job to pick the ESP8266 code from this and the bit that parses the HTTP requests. The required response in this case is very simple but it could veray simply be made to respond with HTML tags, so with HTML5 you could draw graphs etc based on your data at the micromite my 2p |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1667 |
Plus 1 more for ESP-8266's. I have them on all my MM's here, all flashed with ESP-Link. Six are running right now & it would be totally painful to have to physically plug a USB cable into 5 of those 6. The main controller is a CGM2 MM+ & it logs data to it's SD card. When I want to download it, I just do an xmodem transfer with terraterm. Phil |
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| Alastair Senior Member Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
Oh dear it looks like I have a new project. Thanks everyone. I will read and digest the above and come back with questions I am sure. Have briefly scanned some of the links and worry I may be out of my depth but I guess I can always learn. Cheers, Alastair |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171 |
... which is why everyone is here. fear not and get stuck in my son!   |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1667 |
For flashing ESP-01's I find this little board handy. Under 10 bucks.  Phil. |
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| Alastair Senior Member Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
Phil, I am just coming to terms with the ESP8266 boards. Is the ESP-01 a suitable board for my use? I want to use it to link to my MM nodes to download data. Why do I need the board you are suggesting? Can't I flash the ESP-01 directly or does this just make it easier? Cheers, Alastair |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1667 |
All of mine are ESP-01's, although I do have some ESP-12's I haven't used yet. You don't need that test board, it just makes flashing a bit easier, hold down the GPIO0 button & hit reset & it's in program mode. These are handy too, as the 4x2 pin layout is not breadboard friendly, there's a few variation. That particular one also lets you power them off 5V.  There's a really good ESP8266 thread here . Cheers. |
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| Alastair Senior Member Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
Phil, have looked at that thread and been encouraged that after some frustration people have got their esp8266 boards going. I have a fair understanding of networks but the details may be lacking. I will get one of the boards and the extra bits you suggest and have a play. thanks Cheers, Alastair |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1667 |
From the E100D thread, Not really, apart from the thread above. Once the ESP's are reflashed, it's just a matter of configuring them to connect to a Wifi point. I also have all mine on a static IP, starting at 181 up to 188 as seen here,  Then It's just a matter of connecting to them with either MMedit or Teraterm. I usually only run one copy of MMedit, but for monitoring & testing there's no problem with having multiple Teraterm instances running to see all the consoles at once. Have you managed to Flash the ESP's with ESP-Link yet? Phil. |
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| Alastair Senior Member Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
@phil et al, sorry that I have recovered ground that you answered before but I think I rather recoiled from starting with another set of devices. I have ordered some ESP-8266 modules and have to wait a bit longer before they arrive. I find that once I start playing things make more sense and I pick it up. I will now start to read properly and get things ready for when the modules arrive. Will start a new thread when I have started and need help. thanks Cheers, Alastair |
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| Alastair Senior Member Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
I have received my esp-01s modules. Cleared the flash and flashed esp-link as described elsewhere. It all seemed to go ok and the log said all the right things. When I power the esp module up I cannot see it on the network. I have used pinginfo and can see the rest of my network. pointed the browser at http://192.168.4.1/ as per github but it finds nothing. I am sure I am doing something silly but what? Cheers, Alastair |
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| disco4now Guru Joined: 18/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1044 |
Hi Alastair, Unless your network is already a 192.168.4.x network it won't respond to your ping. It firstly shows up as an access point, it should show as a new ESP_xxxx network showing in your PCs available WiFi list. You connect to that WiFi ESP_xxx network and it then issues you with an new IP address in the 192.168.4.x network. You can then connect to it with your browser and give it the credentials to connect to your real WiFi network. You reconnect to your own network and should see it it also now logged in there and has been given a new IP address. (You may have to look in your router and see what it was given) I the usually connect to it and give it a fixed IP address so its always the same. The main things that seem to stop it coming up as an access point in the first place is not a good enough power supply or not waiting long enough for it to appear. Regards Gerry F4 H7FotSF4xGT |
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| Alastair Senior Member Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
Gerry, Thanks for the input. I think my first problem was being impatient. It seems the esp takes some time to make it's presence known. I got fed up and went and had lunch and when I returned there was the access point in the list. I have connected it to my main network and assigned a fixed IP. I have rebooted everything and it all comes back with the right address. I can connect to the static IP via a browser, ping it etc. Now I want to connect to a MM with MM Edit. I have set the address and MMEdit seems happy but it does not seem to get a response from the MM. I have checked the Rx/Tx connections etc but no go. The MM (E-28) is ok when I connect direct to it via usb. Have tried the console via esp-link in the browser. No response Will fiddle and see what I can find. Cheers, Alastair |
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| Alastair Senior Member Joined: 03/04/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
Went back to a usb connection to the E-28 and set the console to 38400,n,8,1 etc Now when I use either esp-link or MMEdit I get response fro the MM but it is consistently garbled. Eg when I type list it echoes lks| Other commands are the same. Looks like some settings are wrong. Will go and watch the cricket for a while  Cheers, Alastair |
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